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@otherdemon: Ha, I felt like I was the only person who loved "The Mirror And The Lie" when it came out. It was slaughtered here, iirc (called "pretentious" and whatnot), and nobody seemed to think it was anything above okay. To me, it was and still is an absolutely beautiful track – lyrically and musically. Best track on IALC, and the absolute antithesis to throwaway stuff such as "Neverland" and the aforementioned "What If…".
I enjoyed it live too, but felt it was a missed opportunity not to elaborate on the final part. I felt – and feel the same about the glorious mid-part in "Big Black Dog" too. I wish they could eventually glue themselves to it Golden Core-style, but instead the drums in particular just hover around it, creating wonderful tension, but no release. That is the point obviously. But frustrating nonetheless. In the case of TMATL, the thought of that final part with steady drums + heavy tractor-bass, and Baard taking care of the subtleties… The mind boggles.
PS: Glad to have you onboard for Chien, The Wheel and TGC.
The thing is, I understand what they tried to do with Mirror & The Lie. I just don't think they were anywhere close to pulling it off. In that respect, I like 30/30 from LTEC better (plus that one was killer live w/ Storløkken in those church concerts of 2011)
For me that track, What if… + Composite Head are 3 of the worst MP tracks ever. And they're all located on the 2nd half of IALC. A shame, because the 1st half is pretty good. And I like Neverland, even if they played it to death and was fairly boring live :lol:
Dear Friends,
The Mirror and the Lie is an amzing piece of music. 99,9% of all "Alternative Rock" artists wish they could write a track like that. I'm glad you all agree!
Regards,
Hans
I was so lucky to see The Wheel twice. First time, at Oya 2006. As Devotional mentioned, it was rather disappointing. Mainly, due to the fact that the sound was pretty weak… as was Jaco's drumming :roll: (Solid, but lacking that necessary dynamics/punch). Plus it was bright daylight, people were cheering and for whatever other reason, it simply didn't work – at least how I imagined the song to be live. However, I got over it and this year's Dresden show 100% made up for it. Although I found the show a bit difficult, they absolutely nailed that song!!! What a brutal, beautiful beast.
For me, it's Wearing yr smell. I only heard it live once, last year, when they played that mellow version. That didn't do it for me at all. The original is such a groovy tune! Unfortunately I wasn't around in the early and mid-nineties when they still played it, and I couldn't make Oya a couple of years ago. So I don't know how it used to be live.
The song I had in mind when starting this thread was: Plan #1. I absolutely love this song, but whenever I heard it live recently, it didn't reach that perfection. And the live versions didn't make up for it with jammy midsections or other outstanding incidents. Though I'm sure, over the years, there have been some marvelous and far out versions of this song.
Plan #1? Good choice!
Marvelous is subjective, but having been to a concert or two, and having listened to most of what is out there, I cannot think of a particularly far out version. Although it has been played live on almost every tour since it was released. Dampsaba makes it very easy to check, at least for the years up to and including 2006:
They only played it once in '93 – that's right, it was not part of the Demon Box live sets – while it was played a lot in '94, '95, '96, and '97 before it was rested for a year and a half.
Then the Baard-era re-introduced it in the fall of '99, still sounding like itself, nothing radical about it. They played it during all of 2000, before it got a rest again.
It was back in 2006 when they had Jacco on drums.
Kenneth-era played it in '08, '09, '10, '14, and '15 (Demon Box concerts).
And with Tomas it has been played in both '17 and '18.
But as Bent explains in the 2014 tour video, they have two kinds of songs. The ones that are to be played like they originally were written, and the ones that can be experimented with and used as vehicles for exploration. Plan #1 is clearly the first kind.
The most special version I can think of is from A Box Full of Demons. Not because it is far out, but because it is massive with two drummers.
Interesting to see a lot of people agree with me that Manmower is better without the jamming. I think they have done some beautiful live versions, particularly the very low key '98 ones. But I am not a fan of the drawn-out noodley ones they have done lately.
Bartok has also been singled out. It is so immensely powerful in its studio Version, so even if I the one they did in Drammen recently was very good, they don't seem to nail that Sabbath-y heavy swing live.
Plan #1 has always been killer live, even if it usually stays very true to the formula. I think the power of that one is increased live.
Interestingly, while STG is one of their best live songs overall (the über-skronky '98 versions are off the chart great!), the impact of the main riff when it appears after the intro is never as great as on record. Probably to do with dynamics and how the PA and amps just can't deliver the punch in the same way in a live setting.
The same problem is apparent with The Golden Core. It can be a transporting experience live, but usually there is annyoing audience interference, and a lack of additional oomph and punch for the final cathartic crescendo.
Quote:Interestingly, while STG is one of their best live songs overall (the über-skronky '98 versions are off the chart great!), the impact of the main riff when it appears after the intro is never as great as on record. Probably to do with dynamics and how the PA and amps just can't deliver the punch in the same way in a live setting.Very good observation. I always felt the same way about STG, but until now I couldn't put my finger on it. Now I can.
Maybe something similar could be said about Sinful, Wind-borne, but I haven't heard this one live for a while now.
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